The History of Woman Suffrage Volume IV Part 59

The following list is taken from the New York _Sun_ (1902) and corresponds with information gathered from other sources:

Habitual drunkenness, in all except eight States.

Wilful desertion, generally.

Felony, in all except three.

Cruelty, and intolerable cruelty, in all except five.

Failure by the husband to provide, in twenty.

Fraud and fraudulent contract, in nine.

Absence without being heard from, for different periods, in six.

Ungovernable temper, in two.

Insupportably cruel treatment, outrages and excesses, in six.

Indignities rendering life burdensome, in six.

Attempt to murder other party, in three.

Insanity or idiocy at time of marriage, in six. Insanity lasting ten years, in Was.h.i.+ngton; incurable insanity, in North Dakota, Florida and Idaho.

Husband notoriously immoral before marriage, unknown to wife, in West Virginia. [Pregnancy of wife before marriage, unknown to husband, in many States].

Fugitive from justice, in Virginia.

Gross misbehavior or wickedness, in Rhode Island.

Any gross neglect of duty, in Kansas and Ohio.

Refusal of wife to remove into the State, in Tennessee.

Mental incapacity at time of marriage, in Georgia.

Three years with any religious society that believes the marriage relation unlawful, in Ma.s.sachusetts; and joining any such sect, in New Hamps.h.i.+re.

When parties can not live in peace and union, in Utah.

Vagrancy of the husband, in Missouri and Wyoming.

Excesses, in Texas.

Where wife by cruel and barbarous treatment renders condition of husband intolerable, in Pennsylvania.

By reference to the History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, pp. 482, 717, 745 and following, it will be seen that the resolutions favoring divorce for habitual drunkenness offered in the first women's conventions, during the early '50's, almost disrupted the meetings, and caused press and pulpit throughout the country to thunder denunciations, but half a century later such laws exist in thirty-seven of the forty-five States and meet with general approval.

It is frequently charged that the granting of woman suffrage has been followed by laws for free divorce, but an examination of the statutes will show that exactly the same causes obtain in the States where women do not vote as in those where they do; that there has not been the slightest change in the latter since the franchise was given them; and that in Wyoming, where it has been exercised since 1869, there is the smallest percentage of divorce in proportion to the population of any State in the Union. The three places which are so largely utilized by outsiders who wish a speedy divorce, because only a ninety days'

residence is required, are North and South Dakota and Oklahoma, in neither of which have women any suffrage except for school trustees.

The "age of consent or protection" for girls, i. e., the age when they are declared to have sufficient understanding to consent to intercourse, and above which they can claim no legal protection, was fixed at ten years by the Common Law. No action was taken by any State to advance the age up to which they might be protected until 1864, when Oregon raised it to fourteen years. No other State followed this example until 1882, when Wyoming made it fourteen. In 1885 Nebraska added two years making it twelve. At this date women commenced to besiege the Legislatures in all parts of the country, and there was a general movement from that time forward to have the age of protection increased, but in almost every instance where this has been accomplished, the penalty for violation of the law has been reduced, and now in thirteen States no minimum penalty is named. The age still remains at ten years in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North and South Carolina. In Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee and West Virginia the age is twelve years, but in Tennessee it is only a "misdemeanor" between twelve and sixteen. (For the recent efforts of women in Georgia and Florida to have the age advanced, and their failure, see the chapters on those States.) In Delaware the Common Law age of ten years was reduced to seven by the Legislature in 1871, and no protection was afforded to infants over seven until 1889 when the age was raised to fifteen, but the crime was declared to be only a "misdemeanor."

Women who have "all the rights they want," and men who insist that "the laws are framed for the best interests of women," are recommended to make a study of those presented herewith.

Under the head of Suffrage it is stated whether women possess any form of it and, if so, in what it consists. The story of the four States where they have the complete franchise--Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Idaho--naturally is most interesting, as it describes just how this was obtained and gives considerable information on points which are not fully understood by the general public. The chapter on Kansas doubtless will come next in interest, as there women have had the Munic.i.p.al ballot since 1887. It is frequently said in criticism that women have School Suffrage in twenty-six States and Territories, including the five mentioned above, but they do not make use of it in large numbers. What this fragmentary suffrage includes, the restrictions thrown around it and the obstacles placed in its way, are described in the chapters of those States and Territories where it prevails--Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Ma.s.sachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, New Hamps.h.i.+re, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Was.h.i.+ngton, Wisconsin.

It will be seen that in New York women tax-payers in villages, and in Louisiana and Montana all tax-paying women, may vote on questions submitted for taxation, and an account is given of the first use which women made of this privilege in Louisiana in 1899. In Iowa all women may vote on the issuing of bonds. In Mississippi they have the merest form of a franchise on a few matters connected with country schools and the running at large of stock. In Arkansas they may sign a pet.i.tion against liquor selling within certain limits and their names count for as much as men's. After a careful study of the situation the wonder will not be that women do not exercise more largely these grudgingly-given and closely-restricted privileges, but that in many States they think it worth while to exercise them at all. In the four, however, where they have the Full Suffrage, and in Kansas where they have the Munic.i.p.al, the official figures which have been carefully tabulated will demonstrate beyond further controversy that where they possess exactly the same electoral rights as men they use them in even a larger proportion. These statistics answer conclusively the question, "Do women want to vote?"

The information as to Office-Holding is necessarily somewhat desultory as there is no record in any State of the women in office. This is true even of those pertaining to the schools, and in very few cases does the State Superintendent of Public Instruction know how many women are serving as county superintendents and members of school boards. The information on these points contained in the State chapters was secured princ.i.p.ally through personal investigation and by an extended correspondence, and while it is believed to be entirely correct so far as it goes, it does not by any means include the total number of offices filled by women. Imperfect as is the list it will be a surprise to those who look upon office-holding as the natural prerogative of man. A stock objection to woman suffrage is that women will be wanting the offices. An examination of the reports here submitted will disclose the surprising fact that in a number of States where women do not vote they are filling as many offices as in those where they have the full franchise. Probably the majority of State const.i.tutions declare that the offices must be held by electors, but where this proviso is not made, women have been elected and appointed to various offices and so far as can be learned have given general satisfaction.[156]

The necessity for matrons at police stations and jails, and for women physicians in all inst.i.tutions where women and children are confined, is too evident to need any argument in its favor, and yet it is only within the past ten years that they have been thus employed to any extent and even now they are found in only a small fraction of such inst.i.tutions. The objection to these matrons on the part of the police force has been strenuous, and yet, almost without exception, after they have gained a foothold, the police officers testify that they do not understand how the department got on without them. It ought to be equally evident that there should be women on the boards of all inst.i.tutions which care for women and children, but, although in most instances these positions have no salary, there is the most violent opposition to giving women a place, and the concession has had to be wrung from Legislatures in the few States where it has been obtained.

The right of women and their value to school offices is now partly conceded in about half the States. Women librarians also have met with some favor. As to offices in general, most of which carry either salary or patronage or both, they will continue to be regarded as belonging entirely to voters and as perquisites of party managers with which to reward political service, although all of them are proportionately supported by women tax-payers.

As regards Occupations, the census of 1900 shows 3,230,642 women engaged in wage-earning employments, exclusive of domestic service, and the question of their admittance to practically all such may be regarded as settled, but it has not been gained without a contest.

Women, however, are still barred from the best-paying positions and are usually compelled to accept unequal wages for equal work. This is partly due to disfranchis.e.m.e.nt and partly to economic causes and can be remedied only by time. In many of the States of which it is said, "No profession is forbidden to women," the test has not been made, and until some woman attempts to be a minister, physician, lawyer or notary public it can not be known whether she will encounter a statutory prohibition.

The department of Education presents the most satisfactory condition.

The battle for co-education, which means simply a chance for women to have the best advantages which exist, has been bitterly fought. A guerilla warfare is still maintained against it, but the contest is so nearly finished as to warrant no fears as to the future. Every State University but those of Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and Virginia, is open to women on exactly the same terms as to men (with the exception of some departments of Pennsylvania). They have full admission to Chicago and Leland Stanford Universities, two of the largest in the United States. They may enter the post-graduate department of Yale and receive its degrees. Harvard and Princeton are still entirely closed to them, as are a number of the smaller of the old, established Eastern universities, but this is largely compensated by the great Woman's Colleges of the East--Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Smith and Va.s.sar--which accommodate nearly 4,000 students. The Medical Department of Johns Hopkins, and Medical, Theological, Law and Dental Colleges in all parts of the country, admit women to their full courses. This is true also of Agricultural Colleges and of Technical Inst.i.tutes such as Drexel and Pratt. There is now no lack of opportunity for them to obtain the highest education, either along the line of general culture or specialized work.[157]

The details of the following chapters will show that the civil, legal, industrial and educational rights of women are so far secured as to give full a.s.surance that they will be absolute in the near future. The political rights are further off, for reasons which are presented in the introduction to this volume, but the yielding of all the others is proof sufficient that the spirit of our inst.i.tutions will eventually find its fullest expression in perfect equality of rights for all the people.

FOOTNOTES:

[151] The names of newspapers which have supported this cause are not given, partly for these reasons and partly because on this question they reflect simply the personal views of the editors, and a change of management may cause a complete reversal of their att.i.tude toward woman suffrage.

[152] A reading of these chapters will show that the suffrage societies have started many progressive movements and then turned them over to other organizations of women, believing they would thrive better if freed from the effects of the prejudice against woman suffrage and everything connected with it.

[153] Notwithstanding these efforts, the very statutes which are intended to be fair to women are continually found to be defective, and whenever any doubt arises as to their construction the Common Law must prevail, which in all cases is unjust to women. An example of this kind will be found in the chapter on New York, showing that it was held in 1901 that a wife's wages belonged to her husband, although it was supposed that these had been secured to her beyond all question by a special statute of 1860.

[154] For abstract of the Common Law in regard to women see History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 961.

[155] A few of the States were formed under the Spanish or French code instead of the English Common Law, but neither was more favorable to women.

[156] No mention is made of women postmasters as these are found in all States. The first were appointed by President Grant during his first term of office, 1868-1872.

[157] In the various States under the head of Education, Roman Catholic colleges and universities are not considered, as they are nowhere co-educational.

The public school statistics are taken from the reports for 1898-9 of the U. S. Commissioner of Education.

CHAPTER XXV.

ALABAMA.[158]

Actual work for woman suffrage in Alabama began in 1890, at the time the const.i.tutional convention of Mississippi was in session. The editor of the New Decatur _Advertiser_ opened his columns to all matter on the question and thus aroused local interest, which in 1892 culminated in the formation in that town of the first suffrage club in the State, with seven charter members. The women who thus faced a most conservative public sentiment were Mesdames Harvey Lewis, F. E.

Jenkins, E. G. Robb, A. R. Rose, B. E. Moore, Lucy A. Gould and Ellen Stephens Hildreth.

Before the close of the year a second club was formed in Verbena by Miss Frances A. Griffin, who has since become noted as a public speaker for this cause. Others were soon established through the efforts of Mesdames Minnie Hardy Gist, Bessie Vaughn, M. C. Arter, W.

J. Sibert and Miss B. M. Haley.

In 1892 and 1893 the _Woman's Column_, published in Boston, was sent by the National a.s.sociation to 1,500 teachers, ministers, school superintendents, editors, legislators and other prominent people, the names being furnished by Mrs. Hildreth. A State organization was effected in 1893, with Mrs. Hildreth, president, and Miss Griffin, secretary.

In 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National a.s.sociation, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, chairman of its organization committee, who were making a southern tour, were asked by the New Decatur Club to include that city in their itinerary. They were also invited by Mrs.

Alberta Taylor to address her society at Huntsville. These visits of the great leader and her eloquent a.s.sistant aroused much interest, but the financial depression prevented active work.

Mrs. Virginia Clay Clopton was elected State president in 1896; Mrs.

Annie D. Shelby, Mrs. Milton Hume and Mrs. Taylor were made vice-presidents; Mrs. Laura McCullough and Mrs. Amelia Dilliard, recording secretaries; Mrs. Hildreth, corresponding secretary; and Mrs. E. E. Greenleaf, treasurer. Mrs. Clopton represented the a.s.sociation at the Tennessee Centennial in 1898. Opposition is so great that it has been deemed wise to do nothing more than distribute literature and present the arguments in the press.

A State convention was held at Huntsville, Oct. 1, 1900, Mrs. Taylor presiding. Mrs. Clopton being obliged to resign, Miss Griffin was made president. Mrs. Hume and Mrs. Robert Cunningham were chosen vice-presidents; Mrs. Greenleaf, treasurer; Miss Julia Tutweiler, State organizer.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: In January, 1893, through the influence of the suffrage a.s.sociation, Senator J. W. Inzer presented a bill to amend the State const.i.tution so as to permit women to vote on munic.i.p.al questions and prohibitory liquor enactments. It never was reported from the Judiciary Committee.

In 1895, at the desire of the New Decatur Club, Representative Osceola Kyle introduced a bill raising the "age of protection" for girls from ten to fourteen years, and a similar one was offered for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Although these efforts were not successful then, public attention was drawn to the subject, and at the next session, in 1897, the age was raised to fourteen years with a penalty of death or imprisonment for not less than ten years in the penitentiary.